Director’s Perspective by Frank Lowenstein

At the Lake Angeles trailhead, there’s very little snow. We feel vaguely ridiculous about the snowshoes strapped to the back of each pack, but we carry them anyway.  As we climb, we’re glad to have them. At half a mile there’s a dusting of snow on the trees, at a mile there’s  a continuous cover, and by two miles there’s inches of fluffy white stuff. At two and half miles, we put on the snowshoes. It may be spring at the River Center, but not yet at elevation.

By the time we get close to Heather Park, some four  and a half miles from the trailhead, even the snowshoes are struggling. Each step requires swinging the back snowshoe up out of its personal deep hole and forward to plop down into still more snow. We’ve entered the Olympic Peninsula’s frozen water tower in the sky.

Each winter, winds blowing from the west and south deposit snow derived from Pacific Ocean water onto the peaks of the Olympic range. The heaviest snow falls to our west, with less and less as one moves to the east; north facing slopes store a bit more snow than south facing ones, both because the sun evaporates less off the north facing slopes, and because the north slopes are in the lee of the ridge relative to the prevailing winds, and so more snow lands there during windy snowstorms.

In the Dungeness River’s watershed, snow may accumulate from early November through the end of April. Snow from these six months nourishes our communities all through the summer, providing water that irrigates local farms and that keeps the Dungeness River flowing. Up in the mountains, the slowly melting snow supports the spectacular wildflower displays, and the longer the snow lasts, the longer the blooms extend.

Of course, the snow regime of the Olympics is changing. Since 1980 we’ve lost 35 glaciers and 16 perennial snowfields that used to exist in Olympic National Park. For the Dungeness watershed, seasonal snow has always been more important than perennial snow. But seasonal snow is also down, with snow depths running about half what they were when measurements began decades ago. Our water tower in the sky is having some trouble.

So all the more reason to join a wildflower walk now. Dungeness River Nature Center’s volunteers and staff lead guided walks every month starting in April, with higher elevation walks available in June and July.  Sign up here.